OC health check: CLOs wake up when September ends
September showed a slight but clear improvement in CLOs’ over-collateralisation test results as 182 CLOs breached an OC test during the reporting period, compared to 198 in August.

[update] Beneath the triple C: theme parks take portfolios on downward ride
Seven corporate debt issuers were downgraded to triple C or below in September by Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s – hurting $2.16 billion of US CLO loans and €1.16 billion of European CLO portfolio. The pace of CLO loan downgrades to triple C has slowed steadily since the peak in April

US CLO round-up: New Mountain gives a peek at better times
CLO primary issuance has produced healthy volume over the last few weeks with new issue paper totalling $7.9 billion since 21 September.

Global CLO round-up: fresh start for five year deals as market reopens
The CLO market is still producing deals at a good pace, with $2.6 billion of global issuance last week. Four new issue deals priced in the US with Intermediate Capital Group and NYL Investors pricing their first transactions of the year while CVC Credit Partners made it two and Barings three in 2020

MidCap brings CLO resets back with largest deal since sell-off
MidCap Financial, the direct lending arm of Apollo Global, has priced the first CLO reset since February, teaming up with Wells Fargo to repurpose its 2017 vintage CLO named Woodmont 2017-1 Trust. The transaction is the largest in the CLO market post-covid, coming in at a huge $651.8 million

CLO reset market set to reopen after eight months as ArrowMark plans deal
ArrowMark Partners is marketing the US CLO market's first reset since February, as the industry takes another step on the path back to normality

OC health check: August reports slow torrent of fresh breaches to a trickle
198 CLOs reported an over-collateralisation (OC) breach in August, only three of which were completely new breaches. This is a slowdown from July, when 230 deals suffered some kind of OC breach, according to the latest reports from CLO-i  

HarbourVest fights back over CLO fund investment after Highland's objection
HarbourVest Partners, the key investor in risk retention vehicle Highland CLO Funding, has shot back at Highland Capital Management in court, arguing it had not insisted on changing the manager on its CLO fund from Acis to Highland, as Highland had claimed

Boutique Chicago manager returns to CLO primary after 16 months to reprice tranche
PPM Loan Management made a CLO primary market comeback on Tuesday after repricing a fixed-rate tranche from its inaugural 2.0 transaction PPM CLO 2018-1

Global CLO b-wic round-up: dealers get involved amid rally, but dispersion persists
The CLO secondary markets returned to form last week with $716.2 million of US CLO bonds and a further €306.5 million of European CLO paper listed. Although for both markets over half of the total volume listed came from Thursday’s scheduled b-wics

Beneath the triple C: slowest downgrade pace puts market in recovery mode
The CLO market recovery is starting to benefit from borrower downgrades falling to their slowest rate since the coronavirus crisis began in March

US CLO league tables: AGL grabs new issue lead
AGL Credit Management has added to an impressive run of CLO deal-making, pricing its fifth US new issue of 2020

Global CLO league tables - August 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - August 2020 YTD

Banks tighten asset approval terms for CLO warehouses
Managers have raised concerns over tighter, lender-friendly terms in new-look US CLO warehouses as banks gradually reopen these lending facilities

CLOs at a glance: CLO managers are quite partial to a refi
There was a wave of CLO partial refinancing in August as equity investors capitalised on lower interest rates to cut the coupon on fixed rate tranches

Points up front: How much do I owe you?
Payment systems in the credit industry had a bad August

Credit fundraising: distressed keeps in favour but CLO ETFs emerge
Five months into global lockdown and distressed debt funds are still proving popular, but several managers have found success pitching other types of credit strategies

PGIM gives $150 million upsize to CLO that priced last month
PGIM has completed a rare feat by upsizing a US CLO in the window between its pricing date and closing date

OC health check: CLOs pay $1.3 billion on senior tranches as payment dates come due
Senior debt holders received $1.3 billion of principal from CLOs that breached an overcollateralisation test in July, a month in which the majority of scheduled payment dates fell. Of those deals suffering an OC breach, 190 were due to make a payment to noteholders and 57% were within reinvestment. 

Beneath the triple C: CLOs get their sneakers on as retailers run into bankruptcy
July added further relief to CLO portfolios with the slowest rate of downgrades to triple C since March. US CLO portfolios faced downgrades of $2.18 billion to triple C while European portfolios faced just €59.13 million of such downgrades

Global CLO b-wic round-up: Palmer Square sets highest cover as double B curve inverts
Palmer Square and MJX set the CLO secondary market trading range, but pickings in Europe were the slimmest they have been in almost five months

Big US banks pull back from CLO primary market to preserve cash
CLO triple As have tightened substantially in recent weeks to tights of 155 basis points in the primary market - but sources say the big US banks that typcially invest in these bonds are not buying

Managers weigh up matters of principal
CLO managers that were able to avoid OC traps made double-digit equity distributions in Q2, despite the headwinds. But these firms tended not to be among those that built the most par

Global CLO league tables - July 2020 YTD
Global CLO league tables - July 2020 YTD

US CLO league tables: refis return as Apollo and Citi maintain leads
US CLO monthly issuance rose above $8 billion in July for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe